Head support



B. FQSIMMONS HEAD SUPPORT I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 2, 1954 Jun "' lllln.

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Dec. 4, 1956 Filed July 2, 1954 B. F. SIMMONS HEAD SUPPORT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY United States Patent HEAD SUPPORT Benjamin F. Simmons, Lake Charles, La.

Application July 2, 1954, Serial No. 440,898

Claims. (Cl. 128-87) This invention relates to an improved traction device especially designed for accommodating a range of normal relative movement between the head and body while supporting the head from the shoulders to relieve damaged or injured parts of the neck from compression strain and optionally to place them under a desired degree of tensron.

Various types of neck injuries, including those in which a nerve is likely to be pinched, may not require complete immobilization, but the relief of pressure will minimize pain and promote correction of the difiiculty, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a simple, light weight, and low cost head halter-suspending frame constructed for holding the head free to tilt or turn.

A further object of the invention is to provide a neck traction assembly whereby a head harness is suspended by a jointed frame extended upwardly from a shoulder engaging collar which can be worn concealed under the outer clothing of the wearer, with the upwardly extending jointed frame comprising a pair of spaced tiltable uprights on opposite sides of the wearers head and a head bridging bar hinged at opposite ends to the upper ends of the uprights for co-operation therewith in suspending a head halter and allowing halter movement in all horizontal directions.

Another object of the invention is to provide an inverted U-shaped head halter-suspending frame joined to a shoulder supported base by ball and socket connections for a universal swivel joint connection, and which joints incorporate limit stops to turning of the uprights about their longitudinal vertical axes as resistance to frame collapse.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent during the course of the following specification and from the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a front elevation of the improved traction device; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the traction device; Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of the ball and socket connection between the upright frame and the shoulder engaging support; and Fig. 4 is an elevation of the ball stud constituting one member of the universal swivel connection.

The preferred but not necessarily the only embodiment of the invention includes a base support for the jointed upright frame, wherein the support is formed as a pad to rest on the shoulders of the body and conveniently may be a leather collar split in two halves to be buckled together for convenience of application and removal. The collar is indicated at 1, and its upper face has riveted thereto, a pair of diametrically opposite metal straps 2-2 from the intermediate portion of each of which there extends upwardly and inwardly an arm 3 for projection through the neck opening of a coat or other garment of the wearer. Each arm 3 terminates in an outwardly extending, horizontal plate or disk 4 which swivelly supports the lower end of one of a pair of tubular uprights 5. The uprights are to extend on opposite sides of the wearers head to points somewhat above the top of the head, where their upper ends are secured by a head bridging bar 6.

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Centrally of the bridging bar 6 there is secured one end of a depending coil spring 7 whose lower end constitutes a fulcrum for equalizing bar 8, which can pivot about the fulcrum and can also swing about a vertical axis as permitted by the elasticity of the spring or its connection with the bridging bar 6. If desired, a screw threaded connection between the bar 6 and the end of the spring anchored thereto will enable the tension spring to be raised or lowered or its tension adjusted to fit the need of the halter installation. Any conventional form of head halter may be employed, as, for example, one which employs a flexible leather or fabric strap to be suspended at opposite ends in the hooks 99 at opposite ends of the crossbar 8. The intermediate loop portion of the flexible strap can pass under the chin of the wearer as a supporting sling, and it may carry a stabilizing strap to pass around the back of the head. If desired, a second stabilizer strap can be employed to fit the forehead of the wearer. The weight of the head will thus be transmitted from the halter into the crossbar and the pull on the two sides will be distributed into the equalizing bar 8, with the elasticity of the tensioning spring serving to cushion shocks.

Tilting of the upright frame to and fro will not require any relative movement of the bridging bar 6, but tilting of the uprights laterally to either side requires a hinge connection of the opposite ends of the bridging bar 6 with the upper ends of the uprights 5. In the present instance, this is taken care of by the provision of hinge pins 10 at the upper corners of the'frarne, and conveniently the upper end of each upright 5 has a central vertical slit or forked pocket in which is received an adjacent end of the crossbar 6.

Each ball and socket swivel connection for the lower ends of the frame may be constructed as shown in Fig. 3, wherein the supporting disk 4 is shown as having a central aperture for the reception of a ball head 11 on the lower end of a stud 12 which extends telescopically into the lower end of the upright 5. Rivets 13 may be used to connect the upright 5 at selected points on the stud 12, or optionally these parts may have screw threaded, adjustable connection for changing the effective vertical lengths of the upright frame. The ball head is retained in place by oppositely disposed socket cups on a pair of plates 14 fixed on opposite sides of the support 4, as by means of rivets 15. A washer 16 of leather or other similar material is preferably placed between one of the plates 14 and the mounting disk 4, as a yieldable cushion. The ball shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is shown as having a central vertical saw kerf or slot which receives a transverse pin 17 whose opposite ends are pocketed in the leather washer, and the pin and slot connection will resist turning of the ball in its socket about the vertical or longitudinally extending axis of the ball stud 12. The base of the slot is shown as having sides which diverge outwardly from a central point adjacent the pin, and these sides form limit stops for engagement with the pin upon stud movement to the right or to the left, as viewed in Fig. 3. Their angle of divergence may vary as a matter of choice between one which offers no restriction to a wide range of head tilt in all directions and one which limits the angle of tilt in a given plane and to one or both sides of vertical. For some purposes, the bottom of the saw kerf may approach a straight line and thus retn'ct the swivel action to swinging movement to a single plane about the axis of the pin 17, which should then parallel the hinge 10. Primarily, the use of the pin and slot in the ball and socket joint is, as heretofore pointed out, to preclude turning of the upright legs 5 about their longitudinal axis and thereby resist frame twist collapse Without disturbing the regular function of the universal swivel joint.

From the above description it will be seen that the upright bars 5-5 are precluded from turning about their axes by both the swivel limiting pin 17 at their lower endsand by the pivot pin connection at their upper ends, which will resist torsional collapse of the frame. Tilting movement is provided whereby the wearer may tilt his head in any desired direction, either sideways or to and fro, and may also turn his head relative to the body, with the hinged frame parts and the halter continuing to tension the neck and/ or support the weight of the head in all its positions so that the parts of the neck are relieved from pressure application and the wearer has a freedom of motion substantially corresponding to the usual normal head motions.

While the foregoing description has been specific to the preferred embodiment only, it will be understood that various modifications may be made and that the invention is not to be limited except as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A neck traction device comprising a base shoulder rest, a head bridging structure having a pair of spaced uprights and means interconnecting their upper ends to accommodate their tilting adjustment one relative to the other, means attached to the upper portion of said head bridging structure for yieldably suspending a head harness and pivotal connection means between the head bridging structure and said base shoulder rest, accommodating limited universal swivel movement therebetween and in cluding interengaging abutment stops precluding rotation of said uprights about their longitudinal axes.

2. In a neck traction device, a supporting shoulder pad, an upright frame having support connection with said pad and having a pair of spaced side legs and a crossbar hinged to the legs and positioned to extend above the head of a wearer, a head rest connector spring suspended from said crossbar, said'support connection including a ball and socket joint at the lower end of each leg and a pin and slot motion-limiting connection between the ball and socket parts, with the pin and slot extending transversely of the longitudinal axis of the leg and providing abutment stops against rotation about its longitudinal axis.

3. A neck traction device comprising a shoulder engaging, supporting collar which can be fitted under the outer clothing of the wearer, an upright frame for suspending a head halter from above the head, said frame having a pair of spaced bars arranged to rise from the shoulders of the wearer, means pivotally connecting said bars at their lower ends on the collar to accommodate tilting of the bars incident to normal movements of the wearers head, each pivotal connection including a mounting strap rigid with the collar and projected radially upwardly and inwardly therefrom through the neck opening of the wearers clothing and then outwardly above the clothing, and means pivotally joining the outwardly projected upper end of said strap with the lower end of a frame bar.

4. In a traction device of the character described, a shoulder engaging collar, a pair of diametrically oppositely disposed mounting straps fixed to the collar and extending radially inwardly and upwardly therefrom for passage through the neck opening of outer clothing which may cover the collar and terminating at their upper ends in outwardly projecting plates, a pair of uprights pivotally joined at theirlower ends to said outwardly projecting plates, at head bridging crossbar hinged at opposite ends to the upper ends of said uprights, a tension spring suspended from the central region of said hinged crossbar, and a head halter-suspending lever pivotally mounted centrally thereof on said tension spring and formed at opposite ends with halter connections.

5. The structure of claim 4 wherein at least one of the pivotal joints between the lower ends of the uprights and the mounting straps has pivotally connected parts including motion restricting abutments engageable with one another to resist turning of the upright about its vertical axis.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 4,968 Knapp Feb. 13, 1847 2,166,229 Anderson July 18, 1939 2,642,864 Ward June 23, 1953 2,649,856 Schmerl Aug. 25, 1953 

